I'VE COPIED THIS TO THE OFFICIAL UNCG GAME SITE - IT'S NOT NECESSARY TO HAVE 2 THREADS GOING

UNCG 13-5, 3-1
They might be the 2nd best opponent we’ll face in the SoCon after Chattanooga. These guys are good enough to have already done what we want to do: tag Chattanooga with a loss, 73-68 in Greensboro. Yet they are also vulnerable enough to suffer a 62-73 loss at the same Greensboro home building to Samford. Out of conference they whipped Summit League leader North Dakota State at High Point (a favorable North Carolina site not far from Greensboro) and edged UNC Asheville by 2 at Asheville. But they also lost early on the road to mediocre High Point.

Their scoring comes mostly from the guard trio: 17.8 in conference from the Big Boquerón, the Andalusian Assassin, the Malagueno Mauler, 6-3 185 Francis Alonso (actually kind of a low key player who just shoots the heck out of the ball); 13.0 from 6-0 191 Diante Baldwin and 10.7 from 6-0 187 Demetrius Troy. Physical 6-3 195 freshman guard Malik Massey with 17.3 minutes a game has become a part of that guard corps rotation. He doesn’t yet produce much on the stat sheet though with 3.5 points and 1.5 rebounds.

But the big improvement is in the front court where 6-9 250 Rs-Jr Jordy Kuiper returns playing much better after a year off with injury, racking up 8.5 rebounds and 7.5 points in conference and RS-FR 6-9 200 James Dickey adds 5.8 rebounds and 7.8 points to 6-8 255 Sr R.J. White’s 6.8 rebounds and 7.0 points, and 6-6 205 Jr wing Marvin Smith’s 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds.

These guys rival the Bucs and Mercer for the best rebounders in the SoCon (+5.4 margin on the season, 54th in the country, compared to +5.9, about 39th for ETSU). However, the front court scores much better than Mercer. And their guard scoring is better balanced and not as dependent on one man as Mercer is.

Turnover margin was a very good +3 out of conference, but they have a way high -5 turnover margin in conference games, while the Bucs are +6 in the SoCon. They get 6.5 steals to opponents 7.3 in conference. The Bucs are 10.3 steals to 6 for opponents in conference. They hold opponents to .371 from the field in conference, and .322 from the arc with 7 makes. The Bucs hold opponents to .370 from the field and .268 from 3 with 7.3 makes in conference. Meanwhile UNCG hits .489 from the field and .376 from 3, averaging 8 makes, all in conference. The Bucs are .542 from the field and .400 from 3 with 8 makes per game in conference.

On the season they are 1st in the SoCon in holding opponents to a low score at 65.8 and 48th in the country. However, in conference that number gets 6 points higher to 71, and UNCG’s own scoring increases a couple of points to 76.5, which is middling in the SoCon, and about 150th of 347, fairly middling nationally. The Bucs score 94.7 with a 26.7 point margin in conference, 81.9 per game (about 36th in the country) with a 14.1 margin (about 25th in the country) on the season.

UNCG runs just an 8 person rotation with very little use of the bench beyond that in conference games.

I hope fans turn out for what may be one of the best SoCon games we’ll see this year. This is a Bucs team worth supporting. They are building a season that we may be talking about for a long time.

Stats cited below are conference only:
Guards:
6-3 185 So Francis Alonso; 25.8 minutes, 17.8 points, 13-27 .481 from 3, 2.0 rebounds, 1.8 t.o.’s, 0.8 steals
6-0 191 Sr Diante Baldwin; 32.2 minutes, 13.0 points, 4-12 .333 from 3, 3.5 rebounds, 5.3 assists, 3.3 t.o.’s, 1.8 steals
6-0 187 So Demetrius Troy; 22.0 minutes, 10.0 points, 6-13 .462 from 3, 1.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 0.5 steals
6-3 195 Fr Malik Massey; 17.3 minutes, 3.5 points, 2-3 .667 from 3, 1.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 0.6 steals

Front Court:
6-8 255 Sr RJ White; 23.3 minutes, 7.0 points, 0-2 from 3, 6.8 rebounds, 1.8 t.o.’s, 1 blocks, 1 steal
6-6 205 Jr Marvin Smith; 29.5 minutes, 9.0 points, 5-19 .263 from 3, 5.3 rebounds, 2.0 t.o.’s, 0.5 blocks, 0.3 steals
6-9 250 Rs-Jr Jordy Kuiper; 24.5 minutes, 7.5 points, 1-5 .200 from 3, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 t.o.’s
6-9 200 Rs-Fr James Dickey; 18.5 minutes, 7.8 points, 0 3’s, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 t.o.’s, 1.3 blocks, 0.3 steals